Return
by writingmyownhistory-inactive
Summary: She'd run so far, only to end up right where she'd started, where everything had begun. Twoshot set five years after Push. ;Nick/Cassie;
1. Part One

[A/N: This is my first fanfiction for _Push _and it will be a twoshot, with some romance between Cassie and Nick. They're older now, they can do what they want ;) R&R? Oh, and of course I don't own anything. The formatting's all messed up. Sorry.]

* * *

"It's been five years, Cassie."

_What the hell is she doing? _Nick thought, pressing the phone even closer to his ear. He still couldn't understand much of what she was saying.

Her words came in snatches, obscured by static and, he assumed, great distance. "I'm sorry...couldn't wait...I'm in Hong Kong..."

Nick's heart leaped into his throat. "You're here."

Cassie's gasp was audible, far too loud for Nick to tolerate at such an early hour.

It was three a.m. and still dark as he paced the tiny confinements of his apartment, trying to block out all other sound as he focused on Cassie's voice. She sounded so much older. But, he reminded himself, it had been five years. Fleetingly, he wondered if Cassie still had those crappy splotches of color in her hair.

He decided that it was impossible. Hair dye wears off in six weeks, and she'd been running all the time. Running from Division, of course, but also from reality. She'd tried to escape. Nick could see that so clearly now. In hindsight, he realized that Cassie had left him because she just couldn't deal with the memories he brought up on top of everything else.

She'd run so far, only to end up right where she'd started, where everything had begun.

And in a selfish way, Nick was thankful for that.

-_-PUSH--_

Cassie ran through the dark streets of Hong Kong, her feet pounding the pavement. That was her nightly ritual, her routine. When Cassie Holmes saw things that scared her, she did what her mother had not been able to do. She found comfort that wasn't bottled, a simple comfort that wouldn't eventually kill her.

It was either running or the alcohol, and she thought that at eighteen, she was smart enough to know which option was safer.

She'd seen the effects of it, not only in her mother's situation, but sometimes when she passed by random people in different cities.

No matter where you go, addiction looks the same. Cassie knew this, and she knew it to her core. She had memorized the ways addiction reared its ugly head. The downcast eyes, the far away gazes, the rotten teeth and the hollow stares.

It was always the same.

That was the other kind of monotony in her life, the kind that scared her.

But even fear wasn't enough to keep her from going back to what she knew. Alcohol was not foreign to her. It always perched on her shoulder, standing by as an aid that was willing to offer the clarity she needed to See, and the comfort she held onto as she Watched.

Running didn't quite offer that. It kept the nightmares and fright at bay, but it couldn't help her make sense of the visions she had. Over time, she'd convinced herself that she needed good Sight more than anything else.

Nightmares don't mean much when there's a planet at stake. At least, that was what Cassie kept telling herself. She repeated it mentally, a relentless mantra that she played over and over to make her growing addiction seem like an okay thing. It could be justified in her mind--she needed the alcohol to keep her Sight sharp. She was only doing her job.

No matter how hard Cassie tried, she couldn't pinpoint the exact date that her craving for vodka and tequila spiraled out of control, but it wasn't before she left Nick.

Maybe, she thought, that was why she couldn't remember.

Life without Nick wasn't something she wanted to think about, even though she'd been living that way for so long. It was somehow more painful to reflect on after so much time had passed, because she was older and had a different perspective on her life and the lives of others.

In a roundabout way, she'd become wiser.

Despite the fact that the days of her youth had taught Cassie more than she would have ever learned in regular school, she wasn't smart enough to leave the past behind.

That was why she was running in the dead of night. She was going home.

Home, for her, was wherever Nick happened to be.

_--PUSH--_

"I'm coming," Nick yelled hoarsely, jolted awake by Cassie pounding on the door. "I'm never awake before noon," he muttered, sweeping a hand across his tired eyes as he stood, following the noise.

He wrenched the door open, his jaw dropping as he stared at the stranger in front of him.

"Cassie," he stammered incredulously, "is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Surprised?" A smirk lifted the corners of her lips as she elbowed her way past Nick to get into the foyer. "I'm hungry."

He watched as Cassie walked into the kitchen, noticing the strangest things about her. She walked with a new kind of confidence. There was a bounce in her step that seemed to say, _I'm tough, don't mess with me._

Cassie's hair was longer now, and a darker shade of blonde. The colored streaks had disappeared. Nick wasn't sure whether he liked that change or not.

He wasn't sure if he liked Cassie changing at all, come to think of it, but he was happy that she was with him.

"Well, I'm not surprised to see that your appetite hasn't changed..." he called, still able to hear her rooting around in the fridge. "And before you ask, I don't have anything with shrimp."

"Then take me to the market," Cassie demanded, placing her hands on her hips. Nick almost cracked a smile. This was the girl he'd lost five years ago. He was glad that her spunk hadn't disappeared after so much time.

"Come on, then," Nick conceded, pulling crumpled bills from his wallet. He counted the money in his hand, decided it was enough to pay for food, and walked stiffly out into the bright afternoon.


	2. Part Two

They walked out into the sunshine together. Cassie ran ahead of Nick after she had snatched the money out of his hand.

"What do you want?" She called, her voice floating back to Nick, carried by the light breeze.

"Um." Nick smiled, knowing that his response would confuse her. "Something without shrimp."

The two friends had unique tastes in food. Cassie loved anything with fish or a little spice. Nick had grown up eating bland meals, since he was always moving and never had the time to taste what he put in his mouth.

As he expected, Cassie sighed in mild frustration. She'd been trying to persuade Nick to taste wasabi for months now, but he refused to try even one bite. "Okay."

Cassie ordered their lunch, which gave Nick time to catch up to her. Leaning against the side of the vendor's cart, he ran a hand through his windswept hair. "You've gotta slow down, Cass," he implored. "I'm too old to sprint like this."

"You're not old, Nick," she snorted, hefting two large bowls of soup—one with hot peppers—and poked Nick's chest with one of the chopsticks she held. "Exercise is good for you, so quit complaining."

Nick rolled his eyes, but he knew she was right.

It didn't take them long to finish eating. Cassie studied Nick as he slurped the last of his noodles. Her chin rested in her hands, falling only an inch from the tabletop.

"What?" He was confused by the intensity of her gaze, and even more confused that she would choose to focus on him.

"Oh, nothing," she stood abruptly and began walking back in the direction they had come.

"Alright," he said, clearly skeptical. Their walk back to Nick's home was spent in silence. Cassie stared at the cracked ground below her boots, occasionally stopping to look at the scenery surrounding them. Not once did she say anything to Nick.

_--PUSH--_

She entered Nick's home a few seconds before he did, extracting her feet from her boots and dumping them carelessly on the floor. Nick ignored her sloppiness, choosing to simply Move her footwear out of the way.

"So are you staying here, or what?" Nick asked bluntly, his tone of voice letting Cassie know that he didn't appreciate the mess she was making in his home.

Emerald eyes flashed up to meet his brown ones. "Yeah, for a little while. I need a place to crash…if that's all right with you." Cassie knew she didn't really have to ask permission, but she'd stayed in so many strangers' homes over the last few months that it had become a habit.

"That's fine with me. Don't eat all my food." Nick had planned to hole himself up in his bedroom after laying down the law. He figured that he could let Cassie have free reign over the living room. She'd just have to sleep on the couch, because there was no way in hell he was sharing a bed with a girl.

As he turned to walk down the narrow hallway, Nick stopped. Some invisible force inside his chest seemed to be pulling him towards Cassie, rooting him where he was. He turned around, and gasped shakily when he saw that she was Watching something. He had never gotten used to the way her face contorted when she Saw.

"Cassie-" Speaking to her was useless. She had never been able to listen to anyone while a vision had her attention.

So Nick waited. Each second ticked by, agonizingly slow. The suspense was so thick that it was almost painful. He hoped that Cassie wasn't seeing anything frightening…

"Nick."

His head snapped up. Cassie stood right in front of him, staring directly into his eyes.

For a long moment, they were both silent, each mesmerized by the sight of the other's utter stillness. There was no sound in the poorly lit kitchen, save for the harsh rasp of their breathing.

Then the tip of Cassie's tongue ran over her lips, wetting them.

And just like that, he knew.

Instinctively, he leaned forward. Though Nick had never been in this situation before, he knew what to do.

"Let me show you what I Saw," Cassie said, taking two tiny steps so that they were pressed together in a human sandwich.

Then her lips touched Nick's, so gently at first. Nick's eyes widened and he deepened the pressure in response. He wasn't sure how he knew what to do. It was like he'd gone on autopilot, unable to think or move, but still able to feel.

He could feel a lot of things—relief, need, desire, _wanting_, and just the smallest hint of pain—but they were all insignificant compared to the sensation of Cassie's kiss. It was their kiss, certainly, but Nick had no real control over what he was doing.

His inhibitions had been replaced by boldness, courage he drew upon as all the years of unrequited love came rushing back.

Without pausing to take a breath, Nick ran his tongue over Cassie's lip. He could feel her smiling, her mouth opened willingly to him and there was no longer any space separating them from each other. They were standing as close to each other as physically possible without taking their clothes off.

"Wait," Nick said, breathing heavily. "You're telling me you saw this coming?"

Cassie nodded, smirking. "Actually, the way it happened in my head was much less exciting."

Nick barked a laugh. "My lack of kissing expertise is exciting, huh?" He was still reeling, trying to process what had just happened.

She nodded again, her face flushing. "To me, it is." Her hand had somehow found its way into Nick's.

They kissed again, expressing five years' worth of love not through words, but actions.

Cassie had found an addiction that was healthier than alcohol. Nick had found a lasting love.

In the end, they found hope in an ordinary place: each other.


End file.
